Universal Credit 'wastes £30m'

A government welfare scheme piloted in the North West has wasted more than 30 million pounds in failed IT according to a new report.

The public spending watchdog claims the Universal Credit payment was set up in without bosses knowing how it would work.

A trial began in Ashton Under Lyne earlier this year.

In a damning report, the National Audit Office (NAO) said the project championed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith had been beset by "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance".

Universal Credit is due to replace a bundle of means-tested benefits by 2017, with the department estimating it will save #38 billion in administration, fraud and error costs by 2023.